Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-08-12
The Increase in Population, Railway
Mileage Taxable Property, and
area Of Cultivation.
STAT, OF KANSAS, Exrcur1vx DEPT. /,

PS1so VI tue country. AS result, have
received many letters from different sec.
tons, making inquiries as to the truth of
the statement it embodied, and have seen
tts alleged facts commented on in dozens
OF newspapers as evidence that the aboli-
ton OF saloons has reduced prosperous
pity in Kansas to the verge Of bankruptcy.
Similar letters have been received by the
Mayor Of Atchison, and by many other
citizens Of Kansas. The dispatch referred
to was promoted by two motives. It was,
first. sent from town in Missouri for the
pupose OF injuring rival city in Kansas;
ari, second, 1t was inspired by the whisky
interest, and intended to create the inn
'ression that an efficient city government
could not be maintained without the rev.
'enue derived from saloon licenses.
The city Of Atchison has been for many
years one of the most important railroad
and commercial centers in Kansas. It has
Q population Of about $4,000 people. If
tho whisky interest could create the inn
preston that Atchison had been materially
injured because the saloons had been
driven out OF it serious blow would be
dealt the temperance cause. The Associ-
ated Press. in giving this false special
such wide publicity, was made the uncon-
scious agent of malicious slanderer,
whose purposes were as unworthy as his
statements were unfounded. deem it my
duty to correct the false impressions thus
created, and respectfully ask that this LETT
ter be given as wide publication as the
dispatch which prompts it.
l am thoroughly familiar with the con-
dition Of the city of Atchison, and per-
sonally know that the statements embodied
in the st. Joseph dispatch are false and
misleading. The gas, electric light, and
water supply Of the city have never been
turned OF. Its fire department has been
and is continuously on duty. Its police
force has been largely reduced, but has, in
the absence Of the saloons, been ample to
preserve the peace and protect the property
of its citizens. A local dispute concerning
methods Of taxation, and involving the
adoption of tax which has been collected
in the city of st. Joseph for many years
past, is the only foundation for the
malicious and untruthful dispatch from
that place. Atchison abolished the last of
its saloons in the fall of 1856. The whisky
interests prophesied that this action would
seriously injure the business Of the city.
It has had no such effect. Atchison is
more prosperous to-day than it has been
for many years past. Its wholesale
trade aggregated over $4OO,O00,0OO in
1856, and during the first six
months Of 1887 this trade has in
creased fully SO per cent. over that
for the corresponding six months Of 1886.
All the principal streets of the city are now
being paved. More substantial improve
ments are being made and more buildings
are being erected in Atchison this year than
during any previous year in its history.
Ten important lines of railway center in
the city, and the Southern Kansas Railway
has just extended its line to Atchison.
The central shops of the Missouri Pacific
Road have recently been located there, the
largest undergrad in the West has recent
~ been established there, and many other
important commercial and manufacturing
industries have been located there during
the past six months. Better than oil, too,
hundreds Of thousands of dollars that
were formerly wasted in the saloons are
now expended in feeding and clothing and
housing the people, and, as result. thou
sands Of wives and children in Atchison
who we're living in poverty few years
ago are now prosperous, happy, and con-
tented.
This St. Joseph dispatch is only fair
specimen of hundreds of false and mall
icious statements have seen published in
the newspapers of the country during the
past three or four years concerning Kansas
and Kansas towns. The whisky interests
predicted that the abolition Of saloons in
Kansas would injuriously affect the mate
rial prosp rity Of the State, and false
hoods intended to confirm this view are
constantly invented and circulated in every
section of tho country, and especially in
States where movements ara being made
to Danish the saloons. I am receiving let
ters daily from different Sta es, making in
quiries concerning the effects and results
of our temperance laws on the financial,
commercial, and other material interests OF
our State, and these letters all indicate
that the work Of maligning Kansas is 60
ing on in every section Of the country
Permit me, therefore, to give you the real
facts:
The prohibition amendment to our Con-
stitution was adopted in the summer OF
1880, and the first laws to enforce it went
into effect in May, 1881. The war to ban
ish the saloons was for some years only
partially successful. The amendment had
been adopt d by a very meayer ma GRITTY
and public sentiment in all our larger cities
was overwhelmingly against it. AS late as
January, 1885, saloons were open in fully
thirty of the la: ger cities Of Kansas, in
CAuu1uB lOpehbs tAo CuplVaA VI 'Ao p'aoo'
But steadily and surely the public senti-
ment against them spread and intensified.
The small ma ,ority that had voted for the
amendment was re-enforced. first by those
law-respectiny citizens who are always
willing to subordinate their personal
opinions to the majesty OF the law, and,
second, by an equally large number who,
observing the practical results following the
abolition Of saloons in different cities and
towns, became convinced that Kansas
would be more prosperous, happier, and in
all respects better community of people,
if it had not an open saloon within its Dor
ders. So the sentiment Of Kansas against
the liquor traffic has grown and strength
ened until to-day I very much doubt
whether, of its BOG, 1000 male voters, more
than $4,000 would, if they could, invite
back and reinstate the saloon.
The argument of the whisky interest,
that saloons promote the prosperity and
growth of communities, has been answered